“Prolific” might be a strong word for some musicians, but it feels entirely appropriate for Nick Schofield.
Today, he releases his fifth solo album, Blue Hour, via Backward Music, an imprint of Forward Music Group.
With Blue Hour, Schofield makes a bold stylistic shift, diving headfirst into jazz territory inspired by Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way.
The album takes its name from the fleeting moments just before sunrise or after sunset, when the sun dips below the horizon and the sky is washed in a deep, diffuse blue.
That hazy, in-between feeling is captured throughout the record, especially with the help of Montreal-based trumpeter Scott Bevins (No Cosmos, Busty and the Bass), whose contributions add warmth and improvisational flair.
The result is an immersive atmosphere where jazz and ambient textures collide, conveying a mood that feels introspective, cinematic, and quietly expansive.
About the album by Nick:
The album is an ambient ode to Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way, and opens up Schofield’s sonic palette to introduce his childhood instrument, drums, with his contemporary ambient-electronic practice.
Blue Hour features the intuitive, and totally improvised, trumpet playing of Scott Bevins (No Cosmos, Busty and the Bass).
Blue Hour marks the first time that he has merged his percussion practice with his ambient electronic explorations, and it is all in the service of reinterpreting Miles Davis’ 1969 watershed recording In a Silent Way.
The source of inspiration of Blue Hour is Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way.
Schofield listened to that album on CD in his car for years, often dreaming of one day creating his own ambient interpretation. Using a similar instrument palette and rhythmic motifs, Schofield manifests this dream in Blue Hour.
In a Silent Way itself anticipated ambient music with spacious arrangements and expressive tonal textures.
Schofield’s adaptation of the record’s sonic palette and rhythmic motifs to his own electronic ambient approach results in a modernized stylistic harmony which is at once charismatically familiar and deeply personal.
Schofield improvised all of the drumming and main synthesizer parts over the course of a single day, recording in a church in Ottawa. These foundational layers comprise tender Moog pulses and Roland Juno-6 pads, some of which would not be out of place on the back half of Another Green World or Music Has the Right to Children.
If this was to be a reflection of In a Silent Way, of course there would need to be trumpet. Not long after laying down the drums, Schofield ran into Montreal-based trumpeter Scott Bevins (No Cosmos, Busty and the Bass), who suggested that the two musicians get together to jam.
Seizing the moment, Schofield invited Bevins to record the missing piece of the album during a one day recording session, where Bevins improvised all his trumpet parts having never heard the songs before.
Scott Bevins’ contribution gives the music a leading instrumental voice, and his intuitive approach shows a perfect understanding of how to both integrate and elevate the compositions.
Blue Hour is itself a profound reference, an ambient adaptation, a dream realized and an uncanny synthesis of sounds, styles, and personal history.
Blue Hour gets: 📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷/10.
Nick Schofield – Blue Hour [Streaming]
